By Gordon Lambie
National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week is April 18 to 25 and advocacy groups are using the occasion to share news of the ongoing work and challenges they face.
“Only slightly more than one per cent (1%) of people who die in hospital are likely to become organ donors, which is equivalent to about 450 people per year if all the necessary conditions are met in each case,” said Louis Beaulieu, the Executive Director of Transplant Québec, noting that although any person can be considered a potential donor, Transplant Québec and their medical team has to assess the overall physical health, medical and social history, and general condition at the time of death of every possible donor in order to determine whether a donation can move forward. As a result, the pool of possible donors shrinks considerably when other factors come into play, such as changes in the rates of referral or families opting out of donation.
